Machine for evening and grading cut soles and the like.



.E". P. NICHOLS. I MACHINE FOR EVENING AND GRADING C UT SOLES AND THELIKE.

1 APPLICATION man MAY 28. 1915. 1,162,387.

' Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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E. P. NICHOLS.

MACHINE FOR EVENING AND GRADING-CUT SOLES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. 1915.

2 snsns-susn 2.

162,381. I Patented Nov. 30,1915.

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I v mp STATES- PATENT ()FFICE.

ELMER P. NICHOLS, F MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIG-NCR TO LACENE MANU-FACTURING COMPANY, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

MACHINE FOR EVENING AND GRADING CUT SOLES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented Nov. 30,1915.

Application filed May 28, 1915. Serial No. 30,940.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, ELMER P. NIoHoLs, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Manchester, in the county of Hillsboro and State of NewHampshire, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Evening andGrading- Cut Soles and the like, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts. v

My present improvement aims to provide a machine which willautomatically even and grade-mark (or otherwise designate) all solesabove a predetermined iron or thickness, and grade-mark but not even allsoles below said predetermined iron or thickness; For example, many shoemanu facturers and cut-sole houses desire to have all their solesclassified accurately as to.

grade but have only those above six iron marked.

below six iron not evened. My present in- This leaves cobb'lers soles,etc., below six iron not shaved off or evened but nevertheless Similarlyit enables a cut-sole house or shoe manufacturer to leave thin work.

soles untouched by the knife but properly marked, which soles, althoughnot fit for Goodyear welt work, are proper for McKay My invention may beaccomplished by a large variety of specific mechanisms and in order thatit may be properly apprehended, I have shown one specific embodiment ofthe invention in connection with the general Stated broadly, myinvention resides in mechanism or feeler operations for invariablyactuating the grade-marking or designating mechanism for all thicknessesof'the died-out stock, and in connection therewith providing means forsettingor adjusting the skiving or evening mechanism, which means *isresponsive to the feeler mechanism for all thicknesses above the desiredor predetermined iron, but is not responsive to thicknesses below saiddesired or predetermined iron; The responsive means for the marking andthe evening may be the same device or separate devices'as the case maybe, and

in the machine of the drawingsI have shown my invention applied tothewedge cams or stepped inclines.

In using the term grade-marking, I do not necessarily mean to restrictmyself to actually marking or stamping on the leather excepting as said.word may be used specifically in any given claim, although in practicemy present invention is commonly used in connection with stampingdirectly on the leather.

In the illustrative drawings Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of thecomplete machine. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof, takenjust in front of the marking device and Fig. 3 is an enlarged front Viewof two of. the coiiperating cams or stepped inclines.

As already stated, the general features of the machine are the same asin my Patent No. 1,130,321 and for conciseness of description I haveused the same designating characters for the corresponding parts as insaid. patent, to which reference may therefore be'made for a fulldescription and explanation of the machine, aside from the particularnew elements whichv I have now combined therewith in order to embody mypresent invention. The work table 1 and parts supported thereon areshown as omitted and broken away. The machine comprises all the partsmentioned in said patent, reference being made herein to the rolls 2,

3, trip 4, arm 7, rod 8, weight 9, pawl 10,

11, its spring 12, thinness-measuring teeth 13, of ratchet wheel 14, onshaft 15, carrying rack 16, engaged with. the toothed end 'of lever 17,upheld by spring 18, and pivoted at 19, bracket 20, gear 21, rack 22,pinion 23, its shaft 24, pinion 25, rack bar 26, gage roll 28, link 29,pivoted at 30 to lever 31, Whose segmental rack 32 meshes with pinion 33of the marking disk shaft 34. The same gate 35 as in said patent isshown pivoted ,at 36 to operate with a locking pawl 37, whose end 38connects to a link 39, said pall engaging locking teeth 40 on theratchet wheel 14, all as in said patent. Likewise the lifting rod 41,arm 42, on pivot 36 of said gate 35, spring 43 and limiting stop 44 arethe same as in the patent, and also the arm 45, pin 46, bar 48, pivot49, rod 50, strap 51, pivot 52, link 53, dog 54, latch 55, cam plate 56pivoted at 57, clutch gear 58,

gears and pinions 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, cam shaft .64, lifter cam ordropping means 65,

deflected end 66 of the latch 55, to overhang the tripping lever 67,actuated by tripping roll 68, and. the spring 69. The marking mechanism,Fig. 2, is likewise the same, including the lifter block or plunger 71,marking head or marker carrier 72, pressure arm 73 pivoted at 74,torsion spring 75, marking disks or dies 76, 77, dwells 79, pivot 83,indicator arm 84, lever ,85 (the rest of the visual indicator beingbroken away), and bracket 88. I have likewise shown the same feelermechanism, etc., including the bridge or yoke 104, feeler posts ordetectors 105, threaded nuts 108, as herein'shown, spring 112, adjustingnuts 113,- elbow levers 114, end bearings 116, the ends 117 bearingagainst the yoke 104, the hand rod 118,

. these stepped inclines,

worm wheel 120, gearing 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, under roll oryielding gage roll 131, gear 132. The drawing also indicates the sameauxiliary setting means 133 of said patent and the evening knife 134.

' I have undertaken thus far merely to enumerate the parts hereindesignated to correspond to my patent aforesaid and I refer to thelatter for a full disclosure and explanation of the machine in generaland its various parts, constituting an element or elements in thecombination necessary for carrying out my present invention.

In order to explain the new result of securing automatic grade-markingof all the pieces presented to the machine while securing the evening ofonly those pieces which are found by the machine to be above a certainthickness and automatically omitting to even-those pieces which themachine determines are below such thickness, Ihave provided specialwedge. blocks or stepped inclines 27 0, 271 of the same generalcharacter as shown in the patent aforesaid (and which are claimedbroadly in my Patent No. 1,046,- 213 of December 3, 1912) excepting thatcams or wedge blocks, areso shaped or proportioned and located withrelation to each other and with relation to the grade-marking andindicating mechanism that they may carry out my purpose. To this end Ihave provided the block 271 with a flat face 135 and the block 270 witha flat face 136, so that when the rack bar 26, which carries thelongitudinally movable Wedge 270 is shifted to the right, Fig. 2, agiven distance, which brings the Hat surface 136 over the surface 135,any further movement to the right simply maintains this situation andtherefore can effect no further downward movement or vertical adjustmentof the age roll 28. In practice the slabbed off or horizontal planesurfaces 135, 136 are made at such relative heights and the wedges areso relatively positioned that when these surfaces 135, 136 come togetherthey thereby regulate the gage roll to the adjustment required forevening a sole to 6 iron. If the limit desired by any given sole houseor shoe manufacturer using my machine should be 7 iron, one of thewedges would simply be made one iron thinner, z'. e.the wedge at itsflat area would be one iron thinner (or this required difference inthickness could be distributed between both wedges). On the other handif the sole house or manufacturer desired the limit to be at 5 iron, theWedges would be made one iron thicker. While it would be possible toprovide an adjustable mechanism for carrying out this object, it is morepracticable and desirable to have themachine builtin the first place fora fixed minimum of skiving or evening, as shown. In use the soles areput into the machine between the feed or detecting rolls 2, 3, whereuponthe detectin mechanism or feeler mechanism determlnes the grade of theleather piece by feeling of its various thin edge spots in the wellknown manner set forth in my various patents on this subject, and thegrade, as thus determined, is transmitted by the gaging mechanismthrough the parts 105, 17, 16, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 to themembers which control respectively the setting of the marking device formarking the grade of the leather piece and the setting of the eveningmechanism for evening the leather piece, viz. for the former the link29, sector 31, pinion 34, and marker or die 76, 77, and for the latterthe wedges 270, 271 and gage roll 28. As, therefore the marker mechanismmentioned is shown as constructedto respond to all the transmissions ofgrade measurement or feeler and detecting determina- 51011.8,113 followsthat the marker will be set for whatever grade may be determined, be itthick or thin, z'. e. be it a 12 iron, for instance, or a 5 iron sole.On the other hand as the wedge mechanism is constructed to respond inits transmission or setting function to those adjustments only which areabove a predetermined grade and not to those which are below saidpredetermined grade, it follows that, for instance, a sole which isabove 6 iron is skived as well as marked, but a thinner sole will bemarked only and will not be skived. As already explained, this is ofparticular benefit in saving stock and economizing labor for McKay workand in enabling the cut-sole house to accommodate economically thecobbler trade as to thin soles below a given iron. My invention isintended to be herein claimed broadly, as I believe that this patent isthe first to mention, or provide means for accomplishing, this object.

My invention is accordingly further described and defined in the form ofclaims as follows:

1. Ina machine of the kind described,

means for'determining the grade of a died{ means, said responsiveevening means having mechanism limiting the evening to a predeterminedminimum grade. I

2. In a machine of the kind described, a grade marker, mechanism forsetting said marker in accordance with the varying grades of successivepieces of leather placed in the machine, cutting mechanism for eveningthe leather piece to its grade, and mechanism for limiting theadjustment of said cutting mechanism to a range of adjustments less thanthe range of adjustments of said grade marker.

' 3. In a machine of the kind described, detecting mechanism fordetecting the grade of a leather piece with reference to its thin spots,evening means, grade indicating means, and mechanism for setting saidevening means and grade indicating means in response to the detectingmechanism, said setting mechanism having a portion connecting from saiddetectingmechanism partway toward said evening means-and gradeindicatingmeans and thence dividing into two parts connectingrespectively to said two means, the said part which connects with theevening means including a wedge member and a cooperating portion, saidwedge member having its wedge surface terminated at a point tocorrespond to a given minimum of thinness measurement for limiting theresponsiveness of the evening means to said minimum in its adjustmentfor thin stock while permitting free adjustments for thick stock.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELMER P. NICHOLS.

Witnesses:

LEANDER A. CoGsWELL, MAUDE E. CHIsHoLM.

